Welcome back to our Examination Paper Analysis series!

Since Body Systems is one of the topics that will usually be examined in greater detail in the P5 SA2 papers, I will be discussing an interesting question on the topic of Body Systems from the 2018 Nan Chiau Primary School (NCPS) P5 SA2 Examination Paper.

As usual, I will be sharing with you the topic weightage for this paper before discussing 1 interesting question from this paper.

Topic Weightage In The 2018 NCPS P5 SA2 Examination Paper

Here’s A Summary

The table below is a summary of the topical weightage in the paper.

If your child would like more question exposure on the topics listed in the table under “Main Focus”, the 2018 NCPS P5 SA2 paper will be ideal for your child to practise on!

If your child wants to work on questions testing on Animal Cycle and Digestive System, this paper might not be a feasible one to work on since there are no questions on these topics.

Since Body Systems is a topic that has not been frequently discussed in the previous examination paper analyses and is usually examined in detail in the P5 SA2 papers, I will be sharing with you my insights on questions regarding the topic of Body Systems.

Typically, for the topic of Body Systems, the older school examination papers like to test students on the standard questions where the answers can be found directly from the notes.

Examples include the following:

  1. Describe how the different body systems work together.
  2. Explain why the heart/ pulse/ breathing rate increases when exercising.
  3. State the gas that the exhaled/ inhaled air is richer/ poorer in.

For the question types above, as long as students memorise the answers from their notes and apply them accurately during the examinations, they will be able to do well for the question types above.

However, in recent years, I realise that there has been an increasing trend of Body Systems questions moving away from these standard questions.

Body Systems questions in the more recent school examination papers are transiting into more application-based questions, where the answers cannot be directly found in the notes. Students are required to infer the answers based on the concepts that they have learnt. This leads to an increased difficulty level of such questions, causing many students to be unable to score well.

For example, the question that I’ll be discussing tests students on the concept of asthma, which is a respiratory condition. Students have to make use of what they have learnt about the function of the respiratory system and apply it to the concept of asthma to answer this question.

Let’s Take A Look At Q33

Source: Nan Chiau Primary School – 2018 P5 SA2 Examination Paper [Q33]

Thought Process

After scanning through the whole question, let us first note down the important pieces of information given in the question:

  1. An asthma attack occurs when smoke or dust enters the respiratory system.
  2. During an asthma attack, James cannot breathe easily.
  3. Mucus is a sticky liquid found on the walls of the airway to trap dust and bacteria.

(a) State one difference in the airway, before and during an asthma attack.

To answer this question, students need to look at the diagram and spot the difference between the airway before and during an asthma attack.

Source: Nan Chiau Primary School – 2018 P5 SA2 Examination Paper [Q33]

As seen in the above diagram, the airway during an asthma attack is much smaller than the airway before an asthma attack.

Many students will then write the answer as: “The airway during an asthma attack is small while the airway before an asthma attack is large.”

Will students get full marks for this answer? The answer is no.

Why is this so?

Looking back at the question, there are 2 important keywords that we should identify, which are “before” and “during“.

Since students are required to compare the size of the airway before and during an asthma attack, they will have to include comparison terms in their answers.

💡 Comparison terms refer to:

  1. Superlatives, which are used when comparing 3 things or more (e.g. Smallest, largest)
  2. Comparatives, which are used when comparing 2 things (e.g. Smaller, larger)

So what is wrong with this answer: “The airway during an asthma attack is small while the airway before an asthma attack is large”?

This answer only uses the words “small” and “large” and there are no comparison terms used. This will cause students to lose marks.

Suggested Answer For Part (A)

Since we are comparing 2 situations here (before and during an asthma attack), the suggested correct answer will then be:

The airway during an asthma attack is smaller and narrower than before an asthma attack.

(b) Based on the above diagram, explain why James cannot breathe easily when he is suffering an asthma attack.

Since this question focuses on the concept of breathing, let us discuss what the process of breathing is.

Breathing is the process where the surrounding air is taken into the body through the nose, which then flows through the airway along the windpipe and enters the lungs, where the exchange of gases takes place.

Referring to the results in part (a), it is observed that the airway during an asthma attack is much narrower and smaller as compared to before an asthma attack.

Since the airway is much narrower and smaller during an asthma attack, does air flow through the airway more or less easily? Air will flow through the airway less easily.

If air flows through the airway less easily during an asthma attack, there will be less air reaching the lungs, causing less exchange of gases to take place. As a result, James cannot breathe easily.

In summary, when James suffers from an asthma attack, this is what happens:

Suggested Answer For Part (B)

Combining all the thought processes above, here is the suggested correct answer: Since the airway during an asthma attack is smaller and narrower, there will then be less air passing through the airway to reach the lungs, where less exchange of gases takes place. As a result, James cannot breathe easily.

(c) During an asthma attack, a lot of mucus was produced. Explain why.

From the question, it is mentioned that asthma occurs when “smoke or dust enters the respiratory system”.

Students have learnt that the respiratory system wants to minimise the amount of dirt and dust particles entering the lungs. This is to reduce blockage of air sacs in the lungs by dirt and dust particles and minimise damage to the lungs. So how is the respiratory system able to do so?

The respiratory system consists of the:

👃🏼 Nose

💨 Windpipe

🫁 Lungs

What do we have in the nose to reduce the amount of dirt and dust particles reaching the lungs?

Students have learnt that the nose contains nose hair to trap dirt and dust particles and reduce the amount of dirt and dust particles reaching the lungs.

The question also mentioned that mucus in the airway help to “trap dust and bacteria. Therefore, in the presence of more dust and bacteria in the airway, more mucus will then be produced to minimise the amount of dust particles and bacteria reaching the lungs, minimising the damage to the lungs.

Suggested Answer For Part (C)

A lot of mucus is produced to trap most of the dust and bacteria from the surrounding air. This prevents the dust and bacteria from blocking the air sacs in the lungs to reduce exchange of gases.

🧠 Food For Thought: The question states that a person suffering from an asthma attack cannot breathe easily and will start to cough.

Why does a person cough when suffering from an asthma attack?

When an asthma attack occurs, the airway in the lungs become narrower and smaller. This causes the substances accumulated at the lungs (such as dirt, dust and pollen) to be less easily removed through the smaller and narrower airway.

As a result, a person suffering from an asthma attack coughs to try to remove the substances accumulated at the lungs more easily to minimise damage to the lungs.

(d) Explain how this medication (a relief inhaler) is able to allow James to breathe more easily within minutes.

Since a relief inhaler is being used when a person suffers from an asthma attack, we understand that the relief inhaler is used to reverse the problem of asthma.

From part (b), it is understood that during an asthma attack, the airway becomes much narrower, allowing less air to reach the lungs and the person to breathe less easily.

Hence, to reverse the problem of asthma, students have to infer that the relief inhaler helps the airway to become wider to allow more air to enter the lungs to breathe more easily.

Suggested Answer For Part (D)

The relief inhaler allows the airway to become wider to allow more air to pass through the airway and reach the lungs more easily. As a result, James can then breathe more easily.

🧠 Food For Thought: How does the relief inhaler help the airway to become wider?

The relief inhaler contains a medicine. When inhaled, this medicine helps to:

  1. Relax the muscles in the airway, causing the airway to become wider and
  2. Reduce the build-up of mucus to make the airway wider.

Therefore, using a relief inhaler helps to widen up and allow more air to pass through the airway.

As a result, more air can reach the lungs, causing a person suffering from an asthma attack to breathe more easily.

Moving Forward

I hope this article helped you gain a better understanding of the application-based Body Systems question that we’ve discussed.

If you wish to find out more about asthma (types, causes and methods of treatment), do feel free to click on the link below: https://www.webmd.com/asthma/what-is-asthma#1.

Hope you have gained many insights from this article and continue to keep a lookout for our new articles!